We were on the coast the other day, and after stopping by for a visit to Nanny (Hubby's mom), we decided we'd go for a walk on the beach. One of our favorite things about living on the coast was taking evening walks on the beach, and since we don't get out that way very often anymore, we couldn't resist.
This was a, "what to do with random leftover ingredients" kind of nights. We have lots of those around here. I used what we had left of a container of baby spinach leaves, some jarred roasted red peppers (about 3), and what remained (approximately half) of a container of feta cheese.
First, I filleted 2 chicken breasts and seasoned one side. Then I tossed the spinach, feta, and 3 roasted red pepper slices into the food processor.
I spread the mixture on half of the unseasoned side of the breasts, folded them over, and placed them on a flat top.
*If I had it to do over I would bake these in the oven. I thought I'd be saving time by putting them on a flat top, but since they are folded, even when you flip them, you are never applying much heat to the inside. I had to keep the heat low, so as not to char the outside, and it felt like it was taking foreverrrr.
I cooked up some quinoa, and sauteed string beans with garlic to go with the chicken. It was delicious! Hubby went on and on about it. So, I guess this was a random dinner night that will go into the recipe box! I find that's usually how our favorite recipes come about.
We love the springs. We really do. Especially for swimming. I've never really been too much into swimming in the ocean. There are just too many unseen creatures in there for my liking. Plus the salt. Ouch! It burns your eyes. But the springs. Ahhh... Wonderful. Always nice and cool. You can see everything below you. Sure, you have the occasional alligator, but they usually mind their own business, so long as you steer clear of them. I suppose I was spoiled by growing up living on a crystal clear river, but I just can't find anything that beats it.
The Rainbow River
Little Guy had been dying to try out his new water gun, so we thought we'd head over to the springs. $4 for the 3 of us and a day full of fun! There is a large swimming area that's pretty deep, a kiddie area (which is very small), paved trails, dirt trails, a butterfly garden, waterfalls, a large grassy picnic area, canoe and kayak rentals (about $25 for 3 people). It's pretty awesome.
We came across this Leopard Moth caterpillar.
There was this amazing garden full of Florida native plants where everything was labeled. It was awesome!
We even took a family picture in front of the waterfall.
Thank you, letter K, for staying true to your letter sound. Unfortunately, your wanna be, the letter C is constantly trying to steal your glory and confuse my child. All week as we tried to come up with words that began with K to write on our board, Little Guy would name words like "castle" or "catch." When he asked me why "cat" starts with C and "kitten" starts with K, the only answer I could come up with was "Good question! Well, because sometimes letters are tricky and they pretend to sound like other letters." !?!?!? What are you supposed to say? Because C is a letter that rips off 2 sounds, the S and the K, neither of which it would actually make if I had designed our alphabet (I would use it only to make the ch sound, in case you're wondering). Oh, the joys of teaching...
Anywho, let's get back to the Letter K and what we did this week. Since Little Guy is so into painting lately, I've been trying to incorporate it as much as I can. I thought it would be fun to make a "blank" letter K, so we taped a construction paper K onto a paper and Little Guy got to work painting every bit of white he could find.
We got outside and played some "kickety kickball."
Little Guy got familiar with the letter K by tracing it with his finger in his I Can Trace book.
Our Letter Tile Matching page was once again this week made using lower case letters that Little Guy had to match using his upper case letter tiles.
Although not K related, we made the mini book at the back of Little Guy's High Five magazine. Little Guy cut out the pages, we put them in numerical order, folded them in half, and stapled them together. The best part was that the book was super easy and Little Guy could basically read it out loud with me!
We used a giant push pin to poke holes along the lines of letter K's, and did the Letter K Writing Page from Confessions of a HomeSchooler. I tape the writing page on the easel to change things up a little bit.
On Friday, Little Guy made his own kite. I set out construction paper, glue, and ribbon, and Little Guy got to work.
I also found a kite in the dollar section at Target! Little Guy had a blast flying it on a windy day.
An image from our lives meant to inspire wellness of mind, body, or spirit.
*The picture above was taken the day after my grandfather passed away. Spending the day outdoors made me feel more connected to him since he absolutely loved the outdoors. If asked the question: "If you were stranded in the wilderness and could only take one thing to survive what would it be?" The answer was always "my grandpa." He was a remarkable man.
I believe we are all made of magnificent energy; some may call it 'spirit', some 'a soul', some 'life force.' As stated by Albert Einsten, energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but can be changed from one form to another.
Now, it may be a trick of the light, or dust particles, or whatever you choose to believe, but that white blurry figure standing over my boy there in the picture...I believe in the possibility that it could be my grandpa.
